Gurjinder Singh Suri

Gurjinder Singh Suri was born in Ambala, Haryana on 4 July 1974 in a military family. His grandfather Subedar Gurbaksh Singh was a veteran of the Second World War, and his father Colonel T.P. Singh took active part in the 1971 war with Pakistan in the Naushera sector of Jammu and Kashmir as part of the Sikh Light Infantry. His mother was Smt Surjit Kaur.

Rai Singh did his schooling in Army Public Schools at military stations wherever his father was posted.

Rai Singh joined National Defence Academy in June 1997. He was commissioned in the Ordnance Corps, and posted on attachment to 12 Bihar Battalion.

During the Kargil war of 1999, Capt Gurjinder Singh Suri's battalion was deployed in the Gulmarg sector of Jammu and Kashmir at the Faulad post at a height of 11200 feet. On 9 November 1999, the post was attacked by the Pakistan Army. The attack was repulsed and Capt Gurjinder deployed his men to deal with any reinforcements or interferences. Subsequently, he launched an operation to clear enemy bunkers one by one in which one of his soldiers was badly injured.

Capt Gurjinder showed exceptional leadership and charged forward and killed two enemy soldiers and silenced an enemy machine gun. However, during the battle, he received a burst of gunfire in his arm. Ignoring his injury, he led his men and lobbed two hand-grenades into a bunker. He then entered the bunker spraying bullets, killing one more enemy soldier. At this point, he was hit by an Rocket-propelled grenade and was critically injured. Despite his injuries, he declined to be evacuated and continued to exhort his men till he breathed his last. In the operation, seventeen Pakistani soldiers were killed and fourteen bunkers destroyed.[4] Displaying exceptional courage and leadership, Captain Suri was martyred at the age of 25 years in the service of the nation.

• Kargil War